Military Instructors ManualCole, J. P. (James Perry)
History
Military Instructors Manual
Cole, J. P. (James Perry)
Military art and science; United States. Army -- Military life; United States. Army -- Officers' handbooks
1. Look for the water courses, that is the drainage system. It will
give the general slope of the land.
2. Look for the high points between the water courses, remembering
that there is always a valley then a hill then a valley again
continued in succession.
3. Finally locate towns, railroads, main highways and work down to the
minor details.
In measuring a map to get the actual distances on the ground, copy the
graphic scale on any piece of paper and apply this directly or if your
distances exceed your scale use the edge of a piece of paper and then
apply it to the graphical scale on the map.
LESSON 2. (FIELD WORK--FIVE HOURS.)
_Problem--Stride Scale Map Making_.
Producing a map from the actual ground requires certain instruments.
The second lesson takes up the preparation of the stride scale on the
alidade and the different kinds of maps, made in military sketching.
The alidade is a triangular ruler with one or more working scales on
it beside other measurements. The _working scale_ is, for infantry,
the stride or the space of ground covered from left foot to left foot
again in walking, reduced to the proper map distance. This varies with
individuals of course. Any scale of units, however, can be used as,
horse trot, telegraph poles, etc.
The working scale for each man is made by having him step off a
measured course, say 440 yards. The ground should not be too even as a
general average is needed, moreover the pace must be the natural gait
of the individual under ordinary circumstances. Let him count the
course three times then average the three results for the final
estimate.
Now to convert this into a working scale for the alidade made on a
scale of six inches to the mile; take the case of a man who takes 220
strides in 440 yards:
440 yards = 15,840 inches
15,840 ÷ 220 = 72, or his stride in inches
then 880 strides = 1 mile or 6" on the scale.
It is better to have a scale of 1,000 strides which is easily done by
the proportion:
1,000 sts. : 880 sts. : : x : 6
x = 6.8
now draw a line 6.8 inches long and a diagonal line from it; divide
this diagonal line into 10 equal parts for each 100 paces at any
convenient scale and draw a line from the end of the tenth part to the
end of the 6.8 inches line; draw lines parallel to this line from each
of the divisions. The 6.8" line is then divided into 10 equal parts;
each of these parts may be divided in the same manner into tenths.
Your scale is ready to be pasted or transferred to the alidade and
each 6.8. inches on the map will equal 1,000 of your strides on the
ground, or about 1-1/12 miles (2,000 yards).
There are two general classes of sketches:
1. ROAD SKETCH.--A traverse (passing over) made along a definite rout
showing all features of military importance for a distance of 200 or
300 yards on each side of the road. A road sketch is always made on a
scale of 3 inches to 1 mile.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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